Dreams
by Dancerslife
Summary: The past comes back to haunt the McGarry family when Annabeth's daughter begins to have strangely realistic dreams.
1. Chapter 1

_Dreams_

Characters- Annabeth, Leo OC

Rating- G (will go up)  
Summary- AU, Leo and Annabeth are married. Annabeth has two kids. One has dreams of Annabeth's past, the good and the bad.

* * *

When someone's parents are divorced its real rough on the kids. Emma's parents have been divorced since she was 7. Her brother Tony was 3 when their parents got into the fight that sealed the divorce. 

Emma's dad came home late one evening after work annoyed and mad. Christopher came in the door and threw his things on a chair in the hallway and started to go up the stairs. Annabeth noticed that Christopher was mad but didn't know why."Chris what's wrong?" Annabeth asked her husband.

"Nothings wrong. Just leave it alone. I don't want to talk about it," Christopher said as he walked up the stairs.

Annabeth didn't leave it alone. She knew her husband was lying and was determined to get to the bottom of it. Annabeth followed Chris up the stairs with baby Tony in her arms.

Emma sat in the living room as her parents were yelling upstairs. She didn't really understand it because it was muffled but she got enough out of it to go upstairs. As she walked up the stairs the yelling got louder and for Emma more scary.

When she arrived in her parents' room she saw that her mother was pinned up against a wall with Tony in her arms. Emma saw her dad's arm rear back and let flying toward Annabeth. In her own defense, Annabeth moved out of the way to get out from the path of Chris's fist. But she didn't move fast enough to pull Tony out of danger as well. Instead of hitting Annabeth, Christopher hit Tony right in the nose. As soon as his fist connected, there was a loud scream from Annabeth.

"Emma go call 911 honey" Annabeth yelled.

Emma ran out of her parent's room and down the steps. She ran straight for the phone to call just like her mother told her to. When she put the phone to her ear she hesitated and put it down. Emma turned to find her mother rushing down the stairs with Tony in her arms. As soon as she reached the bottom she put Tony down and sprinted to the phone.

" Hello. Yes my husband just attempted to hit me. Send someone now!" Annabeth yelled into the receiver.

As she noticed Christopher coming down the stairs Annabeth hung up the phone, picked up Tony, took Emma by her hand and ran out of the house. They ran down the street in their apartment toward the gate. Before they reached the gate a police car came roaring up. She put her son down and ran to the gate. She let the police in and told them where Christopher was. She walked back up to Tony and Emma and took them to the gates of their apartment complex. They watched as the police brought out Christopher of the house and walked him to the police car.

" Emma, honey, come with mama." Annabeth said as she gently tugged on her daughter's arm.

Emma didn't follow her mother like she was told to; she just stood at the gate watching the police put her father in the police car. Staring, as the car pulled away and the headlights got brighter and brighter.

Emma jerked up in her bed breathing hard. It all had been a dream. Most of it, all of it had seemed like it had happened before. She wasn't the seven year old in her dream she was 15. She looked around her room and realized it wasn't the same room she had when she lived in the house that was in her dream.

She got out of her bed and went into the hallway. The hallway was in the White House. Then reality kicked in. Her mother had married Leo McGarry five years earlier during the Santos/ McGarry campaign trail. Leo just recently became President of the United States. As Emma walked the hallways of White House her mind went back the dream.

Was it real or was it all a part of Emma's imagination?


	2. Chapter 2

After walking in the hall Emma went back into her room and opened her drapes. It was foggy and gray outside, and it didn't do anything to brighten the dreary morning she'd had since waking up from her dream, so she closed them back up and walked over to her light switch and turned on the light to her room.

Looking at herself in the mirror, she tried to figure out if she wanted to change her pajamas.

"Nope" Emma said to herself, deciding that the silky pink pair she had on were more comfortable than anything else she had.

She put on her matching slippers and went back into the hall without a particular destination in mind, she ended up doing laps across hallway to the stairs, backtrack passed her door and back to the stairs again. As she paced she couldn't help but think about her dream. She couldn't figure out if it was real or not. This was the second time she had the dream, and each time it had been so lifelike. She could remember the smell of the apartment, the lingering spicy scent from dinner and the faint vanilla that wafted from the candles her mom had lit in the living room.

She'd told her mother the first time she'd had the dream, but Annabeth had told her it was just a nightmare. But that didn't seem right, she'd had nightmares before of course, but nothing so vivid as this. She just wanted the truth.

"Dammit Annabeth! What the hell is your problem? Can't you do anything right?"

Emma spun around to see the speaker. No one.

Her blue eyes grew saucer sized and her breath hitched in her throat. She couldn't be hearing voices now too, she was awake. Nothing like this had ever happened to her. She quickened her pace and deserted the hallway, heading halfway down the stairs.

" What the hell is your problem Annabeth?" She heard again.

Still there was no one there. It sounded like…but he couldn't possibly be there.

Emma walked down a few more steps and sat down. She'd been young when her parents divorced and her father had been practically non-existent since then. But she remembered his face, and the sound of his voice. What she'd just heard sounded just like him, but as far as she knew he lived three hours away and even if he didn't there was no way in hell or highwater her mother would let him into their home.

Upstairs a door clacked shut. She jumped from her perch on the step and turned to see her mother coming down. She ran up the stairs to her, throwing herself at her mother, wrapping her into a tight hug.

"Emma?" Annabeth asked with concern as she returned her daughter's bear hug. "What's wrong?"

" I had the dream again." Emma said into her mother's shoulder, now with tears running down her cheeks.

"Which one?"

"The one at the old house." Emma said as her voice started to break.

Annabeth pulled away from the embrace just enough that she could see her daughter's face.

"You okay?" Annabeth asked as she wiped Emma's tears away from her face.

"I also heard a voice too," she added.

"Who's?"

"Dad's"

Annabeth's reaction changed at the mention of her ex-husband and his mysterious voice. Annabeth led her daughter back up into her room.

"What did you hear?" Annabeth asked Emma, as Emma sat on her bed.

" I first heard um... him asking you what your problem was and can't you do anything right." Emma said as her mother sat next to her.

"Was that it?"

"Yeah."

" OK. It will be fine," Annabeth said calmly. "There's nothing to worry about. You're just mixing up a bunch of info into one big dream. Ok sweetheart?"

"But I feel like it's all happened at once."

"It did happen, not all at once but all the things in your dream did happen," Her mom admitted sadly. "But there were some things that you didn't see. Like when Tony got hit in the nose, you weren't in the room, you were in the living room. "

"But then why do I feel like I was there?"

"I don't really know."

"Oh. Okay." Emma said disappointed.

Annabeth got up from Emma's bed and kissed her daughter's forehead.

"It'll be fine. Okay. Don't worry about it."

" Okay, thanks."

Emma watched her mother leave the room and shut the door. As soon as the it closed, Emma through her pillow at the door. And buried her face in a blanket so no one could hear her frustrated cry.

Outside the door Annabeth took a deep breath and sighed when she heard the soft thunk through the thin wood. She knew her daughter was miffed that she hadn't told her anything concrete, and she knew she was also a little scared. But she didn't know how to explain Emma's dreams to her.

All Emma had dreamed was true. But, how could Annabeth tell her daughter everything that had really happened? It was traumatic for Annabeth, she'd wanted to spare her children the pain their father had put their family through. Since they'd been to young to really remember she'd hoped they could all just forget the divorce and move on with life. Annabeth couldn't think about anything else to do.

With another sigh she pushed off Emma's door and strode back to her bedroom and saw Leo was no longer in bed and the light was on in the bathroom. She headed for it and found her husband standing at the sink.

" Good Morning." Leo said as his wife walked into the bathroom.

"Hi," Annabeth replied with none of her usual energy.

"What's wrong?"

"Why?"

" Well there's something worrying you, I can see it all over your face."

"Emma had her dream again. The one where she saw the fight Christopher and I had before I left."

"Is she okay?"

Annabeth shook her head.

"I don't know what's going on. She heard voices too. I guess right before I walked out of the room."

" Whose voice? Chris's?" Leo asked.

"Yeah she heard him yell at me, asking, 'What my problem was' and 'Can't I do anything right'."

Leo took her arm and led her back into the bedroom to sit down.

The scary part is he did ask me those questions." Annabeth told Leo as he pulled her into a hug.

" It will be ok Annabeth. Emma is as strong as you are, she'll be fine."

" I hope you're right." Annabeth said.

Annabeth knew Emma needed to know what had happened between her and Christopher. Emma could handle it but, not Tony. Tony was eleven, if he didn't remember it was for the better. She couldn't tell him his father had hit him.

Annabeth heard someone knock on the door and her son came bounding in.

"Mom?"

" Yeah?"

Tony took a breath and asked, "Did my father ever hit me?"

Annabeth turned to Leo, who saw the worried look on his wife's face.

"For some reason I remember we were at the old house and I saw Dad's hand coming toward me," Tony added before she could answer.

"No," Annabeth lied, though it made her sick to do so. "He never hit you."

" Okay," Tony said, he sounded slightly confused but brushed it away. "Well I'll see you guys later."

Annabeth sat on the bed and put her head in her hands and sighed.

" How could he remember that?" Annabeth asked Leo, though there was no reason for him to know the answer.

" Does he remember anything else?"  
" He remembers getting an I.V. put into his hand when her was 18 months."

" Wow."

" Yeah no kidding," Annabeth said without amusement. All at once the massive bedroom she shared with Leo seemed too confining. The tension she felt closing in from her own fears and her children's fears and questions suddenly took up all the space. She got up and wandered into the bathroom, hoping that some cool water and a moment alone would help clear her head and ease the frustration. She splashed some onto her face and then patted it away with a towel, starting off into the mirror, though she didn't really see her reflection staring back, instead she watched history replay before her eyes.

Annabeth was at the old house. Wearing a pair of jeans and an old t-shirt, her hair loose and running all the way down her back. She was standing next to Christopher with a big smile on her face. They were in the backyard barbequing, the children were playing in the sandbox just off the patio.

"Annabeth watch these for me." Christopher said as he walked into the house.

She didn't hear him, Emma was playing with a mix of water and dirt and had splashed it all on Tony who was sitting next to her.

"Emma honey no." Annabeth said as she rushed to her children, leaving the barbeque to rescue her son from his sister's antics.. Christopher came out of the house with a steak in a bowl.

" Damn it Annabeth, what the hell is wrong with you? Can't you do anything right?" Annabeth heard Christopher yell.

She turned confused, to see her glowering husband standing at the barbeque where the other steaks were turning out well done instead of medium-rare.

Annabeth got up from where she was and walked over to Christopher, opening her mouth to launch a retort. But before she could say anything Christopher had sprayed her with beer. Annabeth had gasped and stormed inside.

Leo had put his hand on Annabeth's shoulder, which made her jump.

" You okay? You look like your lost," he said.

" Yeah I'm fine. I was just thinking." She answered, forcing a wan smile to her lips.

"Ok," he said, trusting that she would tell him when she was ready.

Annabeth had to tell Leo what had happened between her and Christopher. He knew a lot but not everything. She couldn't lie to him, and this thing would end up hurting them all even more if she didn't. But it wouldn't be easy.

The thing that scared Annabeth the most was the thought of Christopher returning. She could not let that happen not now, not ever. Resurrecting him in memory only brought that awful thought to reality.


	3. Chapter 3

After not hearing or seeing Christopher in 7 years, it became the last thing on Annabeth's mind. But, since Emma told her about the dream, the thought of Christopher slowly began to make its way back.

Annabeth's morning already started eventful. Whether it was having her teenage daughter in tears, or watching history replay itself in a mirror. What she needed was a large cup of coffee, and what she wanted was a blank schedule. Today she wasn't going to get what she wanted.

"Morning Mrs. McGarry, " a voice behind her said.

"Morning." She said, as she turned not knowing who was behind her. She turned to see a young man dressed in a pair of jeans and a black blouse standing in her doorway.

"Well if it isn't Shawn Santiago." Annabeth said, as she walked toward him and gave him a hug. " How are you?"

"I'm okay." Shawn replied pulling out of the hug. "I just recently moved hear and I thought I would come down and visit."

"How did you get through the security guards?" Annabeth asked.

"Margaret's my aunt."

"Really?" Annabeth asked stunned.

Shawn nodded his head as a loud voice filled the hall.

" The briefing is at ten." the voice said. " I don't care if you don't like it. That is when I am going to do the briefing." the voice continued.

"Who is that?" Shawn asked.

"Lou Thorton."

" I am going to do the 10 o clock briefing the way I always do it whether you like it or not." Lou said as she walked into the First Lady's office. As Lou walked in Shawn quickly turned to the window. Emma closely followed behind Lou.

"Can I talk to you real quick?" Lou asked Annabeth, not even noticing Shawn.

"Sure." Annabeth replied. She walked out of the room with Lou following behind her. Emma turned to leave the room as well when a familiar voice had her stop.

" You don't want to leave a poor man like me alone do you?" Shawn said.

Emma quickly turned around. Once she realized who it was, she ran up to Shawn and threw her arms around him.

"Oh My God. I can't believe it." She squealed as Shawn lifted her off her feet. " What are you doing here?" she asked as she her feet touched back down.

"I just moved here and I wanted to come and visit."

" You wanna go get some food cause I am hungry." Emma asked.

"Sure."

Both walked out of the First Lady's office and walked toward the mess hall.

" How long has it been?" Shawn asked.  
" About 3 years."

"No. We were in middle school?"

"Yeah. I left in the middle of seventh grade."

"That's right." Shawn said as he followed Emma around a corner.

"I can't believe it's been that long."

" I know. It feels so weird. I haven't been to a school since then. All it's been was home schooling." Emma said as she walked into the kitchen.

They both sat down at a table that was already set up.

"So how are you?" Shawn asked Emma.

"I'm okay I guess. I'm having the weirdest flashbacks or dreams."

"Of what?"

"My dad."

"Care to share?"

Emma nodded and began to explain.

_Emma was about 5 years old, putting her brother Tony at a year. Annabeth was getting them ready for a Christmas party that was being hosted by one of Christopher's bosses. Annabeth was dressed in a red floor length Versace gown, Emma was dressed in a red and white velvet dress, and both Tony and Christopher were dressed in matching Tuxedos._

_  
Christopher helped Annabeth put their children into the car, and as Annabeth began to walk toward her side of the car Christopher grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him._

_  
__"You make one mistake, and its over." _

_  
__He let go of his wife and watched her get into the car. The drive over was speechless. The only thing that was heard was the faint soundings of Christmas music. _

_  
__Once they got to the house Christopher got out of the car, leaving Annabeth to get both kids out of the car. She watched her husband from the car walking up the driveway with a huge fake smile. _

_After struggling with the kids, Annabeth made it up the driveway with Tony in one hand, and Emma holding onto the other. As soon as they made it into the house Emma left her mother's side. Annabeth was greeted by a lot of Christopher's co-workers. She was forced to smile at all of them, as if nothing was happening between her and Christopher. _

_From another room, there was a sound of glass breaking. Annabeth along with many other people went into the next room to see what it was. As soon as Annabeth walked into the room, she immediately noticed her daughter standing there with a shocked look on her face. Annabeth turned to Debra, a wife of one of Christopher's co-workers and handed her Tony. She rushed to Emma's side and sat her on the couch. Annabeth was handed a rag, and Annabeth scrubbed the spilled wine out of the carpet._

_Once she was finished, she noticed that Emma was gone. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Christopher walking out of the house with both of their kids. She rushed out of the house and toward her car. Chris heard the click of her Gucci heels against the pavement and abandoned the task of putting his son in his seat._

_Annabeth bit her lip and jogged to the baby's side; Tony was nearly falling out of his car seat. As she attended to her son, Christopher gave her a cold glare that made her shiver inside. _

_The ride home was again silent. Once they arrived home, Christopher again did not assist his wife with getting their kids out of their car seats. She got them out and tucked them into their beds. As she walked down the stairs she realized that Christopher was not in the living room. She walked into the kitchen and with out warning she was shoved against the stove._

"But all I heard was a loud crash." Emma said as she turned the corner leaving the mess hall. Emma saw her mother's back, and guessed she was most likely going toward her office. Emma and Shawn followed her. To their surprise Annabeth had stopped. Emma immediately saw what she was looking at.

After 7 years of not hearing or seeing Christopher, that was when it stopped.


End file.
